DAN GLEITER, The Patriot-NewsCentral Dauphin High School seniors research colleges and scholarships at the school's college and career center. Angela Cuevas, school counselor for seniors, goes over scholarship information with Central Dauphin senior Nicole Cousins at the school's college and career center. Nicole has been accepted to Millersville University and will major in elementary education and special education.

One of the purest expressions of hope for a brighter future is a high school senior applying to his or her favorite college. It's an aspiration that can be driven by a lofty career goal, a proud alumnus parent or even a university's sports teams. Money was often an afterthought, especially in those heady, hopeful days when the applications were in the mail and everything seemed within reach.

Not this year.

With the country in the grips of a recession that has shrunk some available scholarships, squeezed university endowments and drained families' college savings accounts, the financial hurdles to a college education have never seemed higher.

Some area high school guidance counselors and their senior students in the throes of this year's application process said dreams might be downsized as a result.

"In the past, [cost] wasn't as big a factor," said Eric Landis, a guidance counselor at Cumberland Valley High School, where just 10 percent of district students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

"Parents figured, this is my son or daughter's dream," he added. "But this time, you might find them saying, 'Son, daughter, this is what we can afford, so let's be realistic.' It's scary times."

"We're going through an economic crisis here," added Angela Cuevas, Central Dauphin High's school counselor. "Most students just can't go to a $50,000 school. I can definitely say there's a lot more going to state schools and in-state schools because they know they can get more money."

These two high schools typically send about 80 percent of their graduating seniors off to college. But as students finish their college applications and await acceptance letters that will determine the bottom-line costs families will owe, the financial fallout is playing out differently for each of them.

At Cumberland Valley, seniors Archana Nalluswami and Vladimir Grinevich, both 17, find themselves at opposite ends of the spectrum.

While financing their education is a concern for both, Nalluswami isn't limiting her options, applying to 10 schools to study chemical engineering -- including Michigan, Case Western, Drexel, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Virginia.

"My dad wants me to get the best possible education I can get and go to the best possible school I can get into," Nalluswami said. "They are going to try to finance some of it; they're not going to be able to do all of it."

To fill the gap, Nalluswami is loading up on Advanced Placement classes that can be converted into college credits, while furiously filling out scholarship applications.

Landis said he advises students to research and apply for at least 10 scholarships. But he cautions that most students will get $2,000 to $4,000 or less, with the award covering the first academic year.

"It's a one-time deal," Landis said of most scholarships. "It's something to get you started and a way to pay for some books."

Nalluswami knows that if she wants her top choice of Michigan, her father's alma mater, she'll likely need loans to cover some of the estimated $40,000-plus annual cost of tuition and other expenses.

"I don't want to put a limit on my future if I don't have to," she said. "If I have to pay loans, I will."

Grinevich has narrowed his search to just one school -- Penn State Harrisburg, where he'll study civil engineering and foot the bill himself.

"I plan to work, and I am filling out scholarships now -- a lot of them," he said. "I'm going to try to take out as few loans as possible, but it's a major concern for me. I don't know how anybody is going to pay for college right now."

At Central Dauphin, Emily Zagnit, 17, didn't get her wish of being accepted to Penn State's main campus to study business finance. Now she's considering Bloomsburg University, but she might scale back to a local community college to save money.

"Scholarships are down with the stock market, so I'm going to rely mostly on student loans," said Zagnit, who wants to go on to law school but knows it will mean more loans.

"My dad doesn't want me to graduate and be in the hole," she said. "Community college is an option. You live at home, you have a job, you make money and you save a ton."

Edinboro University seems a perfect fit to Sarah Ouellett-Albano, 18, of Lower Paxton Twp., who wants to study psychology. But she didn't make her choice based on the state school's $14,000 yearly total bill.

It was a campus visit that sold her on the school.

"It didn't come down to the money," said Ouellett-Albano, whose grandmother is covering most of her college costs. "I went and met the students, and I checked out the classes. Location was important, too. I didn't want to be too far away from home, and I didn't want to be right down the street."

Central Dauphin's Autumn Patterson, 17, wishes money weren't a factor as she weighs studying international relations at American University in Washington, D.C. But it's hard to overlook tuition and other costs approaching $50,000 a year.

Patterson said D.C.'s politically rich and diverse environment would be the perfect setting for studying foreign policy and learning Russian or Chinese. But at double the cost of her second-choice, Penn State, it's a tough sell.

"They have a lot of financial aid," she said of American. "I'm hoping they can help me."

She'll find out, as will most seniors, when schools return individualized financial packages, along with acceptance letters, in early April.

While guidance counselors said few schools ever charge full sticker price, more and more of their students' college choices could come down to dollars and cents, rather than campus amenities, class sizes and academic ratings.

"At this point, students are waiting to see what kind of package they're going to get," said Cumberland Valley's Landis. "We're all in unique territory. Is this just the start of a snowball? We're not sure."

Cuevas said Central Dauphin students are nervous, but still excited.

Money is "an issue, but we need to be positive," Cuevas said. "This is supposed to be a really good time for them."